Ankara Urges Beijing to Close 'Re-Education Camps' for Uyghurs

02:48 GMT, 10 February 2019

ANKARA (Sputnik) - Turkey calls on Beijing to respect the rights of Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic group, living in the Chinese northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), and close the so-called re-education camps where up to a million Uyghurs are believed to be held, spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry Hami Aksoy said.

Sputnik

"We invite the Chinese authorities to respect the fundamental human rights of Uighur Turks and to close the internment camps. We call on the international community and the Secretary General of the United Nations to take effective measures in order to bring to an end this human tragedy in Xinjiang," Aksoy said in a statement, published on the ministry's official website late on Saturday.

Tens of Thousands of Uyghurs Held in Chinese Reeducation Camps - Investigation

18 December 2017, 23:26 GMT

According to the United Nations' estimates, up to 1 million ethnic Uyghurs were held in the "re-education camps" under the pretext of fighting terrorism and religious extremism as of last summer.

The Uyghurs tried to seek independence from China between 1930-40s. In recent years, the Chinese government introduced stricter security measures in the region, justifying their actions by the fight against extremism.

Beijing has also denied the existence of "re-education camps" on numerous occasions, insisting that the country fully complies with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.